▪ I. ranch, n.1 rare.
[Nasalized var. race n.3; cf. ranch v.2]
A scratch.
| 1611 Cotgr., Griffade, a clawing; a scratch or gripe with the clawes; a ranche, or clinch with a beasts paw. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Ranch, a deep and severe scratch, a flesh wound. |
▪ II. ranch, n.2 orig. U.S. (
rɑːn(t)ʃ,
rænʃ)
Also
ranche.
[Anglicized form of rancho.] 1. a. A hut or house in the country.
| 1808 Pike Sources Mississ. iii. (1810) 254 When we arrived at the Ranche, we soon had out a number of boys, who brought in the horse. 1867 Dixon New Amer. iv. (ed. 6) 42 A white frame house—on this side of the river called a ranch—peeps out..from beneath the foliage. |
b. A single-storey or split-level house.
| 1960 ‘E. McBain’ Killer's Payoff xi. 111 Some real estate agent had decided to give the title ‘ranch’ to any house that had all of its living space on one floor. 1965 H. Hood in Tamarack Review Winter 12 Our house was the first California-redwood ranch in the town of Mount Royal. 1965 ‘L. Egan’ Detective's Due (1966) 10 Big newish expensive homes. The one they wanted turned out to be a split-level ranch with a lot of synthetic stone on its front. 1974 R. B. Parker God save Child (1975) x. 73 A one-story house..a low ranch built on a slab. |
2. a. A cattle-breeding establishment, farm, or estate. Also, the persons employed or living on this, and
transf. Phr.
meanwhile, back at the ranch:
orig. used in Western cowboy stories and films, introducing a subsidiary plot.
Quot. 1831 may belong to sense 1.
| 1831 J. O. Pattie Personal Narr. 221 [At] a ranch..I procured a horse for three dollars. 1847 B. Lundy Life x. 58 We set off at day-break, and went twenty-one miles to a ranche. 1870 J. C. Duval Adventures Big-Foot Wallace xl. 247 When I have got through with..my ‘inheritance’, I shall come back to my ranch here, put on my old buckskins, and run after stock and fight Indians for a livelihood the balance of my life. 1872 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 278 Large ranches for beef-cattle and horses. 1881 Chicago Times 4 June, There are already three thousand cows in this ranch. 1887 Scribner's Mag. II. 509/2 The American herder speaks of his companions collectively as the ‘ranch’ or the ‘outfit’. 1888 R. W. Buchanan Heir of Linne II. xx. 121 I've got a cattle ranche in the wild west. 1933 J. D. Higinbotham When West was Young 201 A ranch frequently takes the name of the horse or cattle brand of its owner... Other ranches took the name of a locality. 1950 Sun (Baltimore) 2 Mar. 8/5 A New Zealander has swopped his cow pastures for a ‘whale ranch’... The ‘ranch’ has been set up in a bay of Arapawa Island off Wellington by Gill Perano, who carries out his ‘round-ups’ by motor boat. 1958 L. van der Post Lost World of Kalahari iv. 72 He went out to East Africa to one of its remote frontier areas and started a ranch of his own. 1963 J. Crist in N.Y. Herald Trib. Sunday Mag. 24 Nov. 40/2 Kramer keeps any number of old ‘meanwhile, back at the ranch’ side adventures going. 1972 Buenos Aires Herald 2 Feb. 7/6 He..seduced several women after promising he would marry them later in Venezuela where he said he owned several ranches. 1978 Observer (Colour Suppl.) 29 Jan. front cover (caption) Meanwhile, back at the ranch... |
b. A farm (arable, fruit-growing, etc.);
spec., one on which foxes or mink are bred and raised for their fur.
| 1865 ‘Mark Twain’ in Californian 28 Oct. 5/3, I have a ranch of quite unknown extent, Its turnips great, its oats without compare. 1890 Stock Grower & Farmer 12 July 5/1 They are pasturing on the Alfalfa ranches. 1900 Sci. Amer. 21 Apr. 242/3 There are..no less than thirty-five [Alaskan] islands occupied by proprietors of fox ranches. 1948 [see mink ranch s.v. mink 4]. 1953 A. R. M. Lower Unconventional Voy. 146 The Okanagan with its pleasant little towns and its fruit ranches—everything is a ranch in B[ritish] C[olumbia]. 1958 H. B. Allen in Publ. Amer. Dialect Soc. xxx. 6 Ranch, denoting an establishment for cattle-raising..although the somewhat prestigious nature of the word has spread it eastward through its adoption by farmers who have large wheat-farms. 1976 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 4 July 8-d/2 (Advt.), Experienced worker..for dryland grain & livestock ranch South of Billings. |
3. a. attrib. and
Comb., as
ranch-boarding,
ranch-building,
ranch company,
ranch country,
ranch dog,
ranch experience,
ranch girl,
ranch guitar,
ranch hand,
ranch hide,
ranch-house,
ranch-hut,
ranch job,
ranch-land,
ranch-life,
ranch-mark,
ranch-overseer,
ranch-owner,
ranch-woman;
ranch-owning adj.;
ranch egg, a fresh egg;
ranch mink, mink bred on a ranch, or its fur; also
ellipt., a coat made of ranch mink fur;
ranch wagon, (
a) a horse-drawn wagon used on a ranch; (
b)
= estate car s.v. estate n. 14.
| 1976 Rhyl Jrnl. & Advertiser 9 Dec. 22/3 (Advt)., Reclaimed and new timber for sale..Perspex corrugated sheets, Target board, plywoods, ranch boarding, chipboard, melamine etc. |
| 1926 D. H. Lawrence Plumed Serpent vi. 109 The telephone was in the old ranch-building. |
| 1884 Daily News 19 Dec. 3/1 Ranche companies are quite modern institutions. |
| 1885 Weekly New Mexican Rev. 22 Jan. 2/5 Texas..is still as good, if not a better ranch country, than New Mexico. 1895 Rev. of Rev. Aug. 167 The ranch country where his herds graze. |
| 1897 E. Hough Story of Cowboy 227 In the Indian Nations the writer has been out with a pack of greyhounds, which included a good pack of ranch dogs. 1923 D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Flowers 156 Now you've come sex-alive, and the great ranch dogs are all after you. |
| 1908 Sunset Dec. 792/2 If you were working with ranch eggs, store eggs or yard eggs, it might be different. 1966 ‘L. Holton’ Out of Depths xv. 149 Two ranch eggs with ham. |
| 1976 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 4 July 8-d/2 (Advt.), Must have Animal Science or Animal Husbandry degree. Previous sales, ranch or feed lot experience preferred. |
| c 1894 C. Hoyt Texas Steer i, in M. J. Moses Representative Amer. Dramas (1925) 17 Oh, I do so want to be something besides a Texas ranch girl. 1951 M. McLuhan Mech. Bride (1967) 148/1 There is a story about a little ranch girl. |
| 1947 R. Taylor Bar Nothing Ranch xvi. 190 She'd cuddle the ranch guitar and croon heartbreakingly. |
| 1951 Gillis & Myles North Pole Boarding House 6 A minister to the spiritual needs of the husky ranch-hands in Alberta's godless foothills. |
| 1977 Herald (Melbourne) 17 Jan. 18/7 (Advt.), Sheepskin car seat covers and rugs, ranch hides, kangaroo and calf skin. 1978 Lancashire Life Mar. 70 (Advt.), The seating area is in hard wearing ranch hide. |
| 1862 Harper's Mag. June 14/1 Having awakened my mule I rode on about five miles further, where I reached a small ranch-house. 1872 C. King Mountain. Sierra Nev. ii. 28 The roads..are flanked by small ranch-houses. 1933 J. Steinbeck in North Amer. Rev. Nov. 423/2 At the ranch house, he found his mother sitting on the porch. |
| 1930 R. Macaulay Staying with Relations xix. 273 At El Refugio,..there's a tiny ranch-hut where I tried for a drink of Mexicali. |
| 1976 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 4 July 7-d/7 (Advt.), Competent college girl for summer ranch job. |
| 1933 Times Lit. Suppl. 9 Feb. 94/2 The arrival of a stranger on the ranchlands of Clinton Prescott coincided with a fierce snowstorm. 1979 Time 8 Jan. 40/2 In Texas, Prince Franz Joseph..bought 16,000 acres of ranch land. |
| 1899 ‘Mark Twain’ in Harper's Monthly Mag. (1914) Dec. 4/2 It told me where to begin to talk ranch-life in Carson Valley. |
| 1903 A. M. Binstead Pitcher in Paradise iv. 110 Sleep, someone, whose name and ranchmarks I have forgotten, once observed, is much overrated. |
| 1952 S. Ellin Key to Nicholas Street i. i. 10 A ranch mink that is worth laying your life down for. 1960 Bull. Retail Trading-Standards Assoc. Nov. 2 Ranch Mink should..be so described unless it is a mutation mink. 1964 Harper's Bazaar Nov. 83 Ranch mink hat. 1976 Daily Record (Glasgow) 23 Nov. 18/2 Ranch mink brushes expensive mohair and the whole atmosphere is narcotic and totally unreal. |
| 1926 D. H. Lawrence Plumed Serpent vi. 112 He was not really an hotel manager, but a ranch-overseer. |
| 1888 Cent. Mag. Feb. 500 The ranch-owners differ more from each other than do the cowboys. |
| 1977 New Yorker 29 Aug. 46/3 Harlow comes from a ranch-owning family whose roots were established in northern California over several generations. |
| 1886 T. Roosevelt in Outing July 387, I took along the ranch wagon, drawn by four shaggy horses. 1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 26 Sept. 48/1 (Advt.), 69 Ford 6-passenger ranch wagon, finished in a rich dark blue. 1975 Country Life 2 Jan. 32/1 One feature of these New World ranch wagons..is the tailgate. |
| 1877 Black Green Past. xxxii. (1878) 255 In the company of a ranchwoman, a farmeress. |
b. Of a modern building: built in the style associated with a ranch; single-storey; as
ranch bungalow,
ranch dormitory,
ranch home,
ranch house; also
ranch-style,
ranch-type adjs.| 1966 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 30 June 30/5 (Advt.), Rustic 7 room ranch bungalow on ½ acre lot, trees galore! 1973 Irish Times 2 Mar. 22/6 (Advt.), Delightful American ranch bungalow..in exceptional position and close to all amenities. 1974 Country Life 21 Feb. Suppl. 36/1 American Ranch Bungalow in Surrey..{pstlg}60,000. |
| 1976 Columbus (Montana) News (Joliet Suppl.) 27 May 2/3 Housing [malefactors] in ranch and dairy dormitories. |
| 1973 N.Y. Law Jrnl. 26 July 16/8 (Advt.), Mini-farm, 19 acres, neat 5 room ranch home, almost borders Summit Lake. 1978 Detroit Free Press 16 Apr. f9/1 (Advt.), Bar with 2 bdrm ranch home & soft ice cream business. |
| 1952 H. Innes Campbell's Kingdom i. ii. 33 The Fergus home was a low, sprawling ranch-house building. 1959 N. Mailer Advts. for Myself (1961) 378 Eitel's rented ranch-house in the desert. 1975 Woman's Jrnl. Sept. 62/1 Today..she lives in style in a palatial ranch-house in Beverly Hills. |
| 1961 J. Mitford in Life 4 Aug. 8/2 Motels..may be Tudor, Queen Anne, Colonial, Knotty Pine, Ranch Style, or Futuristic in décor. 1962 E. Snow Other Side of River: Red China Today lx. 461 To people who live in American ranch-style bungalows, all the new multiple dwellings in China would seem primitive. 1970 Cape Times 28 Oct. 19/9 (Advt.), Outstanding architect designed, owner built ranch style house on high foundation. 1978 Detroit Free Press 16 Apr. (Parade) 20/2 Just before Christmas, Dan Scarborough, the senior state senator from northeast Florida, was entertaining some friends in his family's sprawling ranch-style home. |
| 1956 W. H. Whyte Organization Man 11 It is difficult to see the three-button suit as more of a strait-jacket than overalls, or the ranch-type house than old law tenements. 1976 J. Philips Backlash (1977) iii. 118 [She] lived in a modern ranch-type house about a mile out of town. |
Hence
ˈranchless a., devoid of ranches.
| 1888 Home Missionary (N.Y.) May 15 We were away out on even the ranchless plains. |
▪ III. ranch, v.1 [f. ranch n.2] 1. a. intr. Also with
it. To conduct a ranch.
| 1866 B. Harte in Californian 26 May 1/1 Ranchin' out this way? 1872 ‘Mark Twain’ Roughing It xxxiv. 242 He had been farming (or ranching as the more customary term is) in the Washoe District. 1890 Anthony's Photogr. Bull. III. 32 The jolly fellows who ranch it in the West. 1976 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 28 June 5-a/2 The bridegroom graduated..with a degree in agriculture. The newlyweds will ranch near Boyes. 1976 Laurel (Montana) Outlook 30 June 14/1 He farmed and ranched at Acton until 1974. |
b. To let land for grazing.
| 1910 Blackw. Mag. July 126/2 He is ‘ranching’, that is, letting grazing on the eleven months' system. |
2. trans. a. To put (an animal) on a ranch.
| 1873 J. H. Beadle Undevel. West xxx. 663 Six hundred miles..had worn out my horse, and on the 16th instant I ‘ranched him’ twenty miles south of Beaver. 1916 Yukon Territory (Canada Dept. Interior) x. 177 Foxes should be ranched in woodland areas. 1935 Discovery Feb. 50/2 Animals so purchased will be ranched and tended by the vendor. 1980 Times 18 Mar. 14/8 Mink being ranched, humanely killed and kept in a life of luxury. |
b. To use (land) as a ranch.
| 1901 B. Harte Under Redwoods 74 It caused her to remove to Santa Ana, where her old father had feebly ranched a ‘quarter section’ in the valley. 1927 Daily Tel. 23 Aug. 11/6 The large arable farms..must..be grassed down, and ranched at a nominal rent. 1965 F. Symington Tuktu 13 If the central Arctic were being systematically ‘ranched’ with caribou herds. |
Hence
ranched ppl. a., of an animal: confined to or bred on a ranch; also
transf., of the fur of a ranched animal.
| 1954 Economist 20 Feb. 567/1 Ranched Russian mink. Ibid., Wild furs and ranched furs. 1970 Daily Tel. 10 Oct. 14 Tourists who visit emergent countries do so to see the animals in their natural environment—not confined and ‘ranched’. 1977 Harpers & Queen Sept. 65 Very dark natural ranched mink coats from {pstlg}2,750. |
▪ IV. ranch, v.2 Obs. exc. dial. (
rɑːnʃ,
-æ-)
Also 5
ransch, 7
raunch.
[Nasalized form of race v.3; compare glace v. with glanch glance v.] trans. To tear, cut, scratch, etc.
| c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 39 Þan take a longe Pecher, al a-bowte ouer alle þat it be ransched. c 1460 Play Sacram. 813 How thys paynfulle passyon rancheth myn hart. c 1611 Chapman Iliad v. 856 A javelin..his belly graz'd upon..and ranch'd the flesh. 1700 Dryden Fables, Meleager & Atalanta 140 [The boar] ranch'd his hips with one continu'd wound. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Ranch, to scratch deeply and severely, as with a nail. |
| absol. 1699 Garth Dispens. v. (1706) 89 Emetics ranch, and keen Catharticks scour. |
Hence
ˈranching ppl. a.| 1620 Shelton Quix. II. iv. xix. 233 Fierce Whelps, which shall imitate the raunching paws of their valorous Father. |
▪ V. † ranch, v.3 Obs. rare.
In 6
raunch.
[Var. race v.4; cf. prec.] trans. To pull, pluck.
| 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Aug. 99 Hasting to raunch the arrow out. 1593 Nashe Christ's T. (1613) 65 Not a weede sprung vp, but..was weeded and rauenously rauncht vp. |